Thursday, May 24, 2012

Lecture: Nimoy’s 2012 Convocation

Despite having recently retired from acting, Leonard Nimoy delivered a very stirring
address at Boston University last week.

He
got the Star Trek gags out of the way fast and quickly moved on to offer some hard earned wisdom.

“My
folks came to the United States as Immigrants – aliens. They became
citizens. I was born in Boston a citizen. Then I went to Hollywood and I
became an Alien.”

He shares exactly what Spock meant
to him and how he found his passion. He discovered acting very young
and aspired to share a message with his art. He makes a beautiful tale
about how Spock means a lot to him and relates to his own personal
story.

He also ties in with how students should follow their passions in
order to achieve their true potential, just like he did when he was
younger, which led him to a career in Hollywood.

"You are the creators, and curators of your own lives. You create your own life
and your own work. Give us your best. Give us the best of your art. We
crave it. We hunger for it. Help us to see ourselves, to know
ourselves. Illuminate our lives. Keep in mind what Victor Hugo said,
'Popularity is the crumbs of greatness' And please, please, for the sake
of our culture, for the sake of mankind, don’t create any more reality
TV shows!"

Nimoy is a class act as well as a very funny guy. After listening to
his address, there was no irony or gag when he came full circle and
wished these grads, “Live Long and Prosper.”